51 DECEMBER 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® by Tim Rasmussen Loading day in Spokane, on September 12, the container was due at 8 a.m. to be loaded on the truck to head for the Port of Seattle, then for the ocean trip to Guatemala. Gary confirmed as much as he could and the messages were all positive that things would work out. We have heard this before, and been surprised as things went haywire almost immediately. At 7:25, Gary received a call from the driver saying he was about five minutes away and wanted to make sure the gate was open and to let us know he was just a little early. No problem on our end. Gary had staged all the pallets in his shop and the forklift was fueled and ready. Right on time, the driver pulled into the yard, turned, and backed the trailer expertly to the shop door. There was no mistake, this driver knew what he was doing. I looked at the trailer; it was a heavy one with four axles in the rear, and all the tires had a lot of tread. I felt some relief. Many times, we have had issues with the driver or the trailer not being in good shape. The loading began immediately. First, the pallets of bentonite and the heavy pallets of pumps. They took up the first third of the container. The crew worked back to the middle of the container, decked the top of the pallets with plywood, then put a layer of lighter boxes on the plywood deck. There were about 100 boxes of hospital linens and medical supplies and various small boxes of this and that. All had been weighed and labeled. Then came a big job of moving a heavy trailer with a Perkins air-cooled engine mounted on the trailer. It was a spare engine for one of the drilling rigs. It was hard to get it up as high as the deck of the container. A safety inspector would have passed out if he or she had seen the process, but it went in safely. Next was 700 feet of 6-inch steel casing. It weighed 12,000 pounds and took up about three or four layers of pipe stretching the last 20 feet of the container. Into the open ends of the casing pipe, we fed 4000 feet of half-inch Schedule 120 PVC pipe. We then decked the pipe with plywood again and loaded more pallets and boxes on top of the plywood all the way to the door. Finally, we were finished about 11:30 am. The material loaded into the container weighed 55,997 pounds. This was close to the limit. Gary went to the office and got the seal and the bill of lading. With the driver looking, he took a photo of the seal. They shut the door of the container and put the seal on the door. They made sure the numbers of the seal and the container were entered correctly on the bill of lading, and it was finished. The truck driver started up and drove out. Now the container is in the hands of our shipping agent, and we know we have the best shipping agent of all - the Good Lord. He will make sure the precious cargo will make it safely to Guatemala, where it will be unloaded and the material used to bring safe, clean water to people in remote villages there. If you would like to help us do a good work, please contact Water for Life through this publication. Thank you. Contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-939-1941 Tim Tim Rasmussen may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com WTR TGWA Annual Convention January 23-26, 2024 San Marcos Conference Center - San Marcos, TX Tuesday, January 23, 2024 12pm - 5pm Exhibitor Setup www.tgwa.org Wednesday, January 24, 2024 8am - Noon Continuing Education Classes 2pm - 5pm Exhibits Open Meet & Greet with Exhibitors 5:30pm TGWA Scholarship Foundation Auction Thursday, January 25, 2024 8:30am - 11am Exhibits Open Noon - 1:30pm Awards Luncheon 1:30pm - 5:30pm Continuing Education Classes 6:30pm Social Event Friday, January 26, 2024 8am - Noon Meetings (Schedule is tentative and subject to change.) February’s Editorial Focus will be: Gas & Oil Goods Submit your Editorial content by December 15th to: bonnie@ worldwidedrillingresource.com
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